New BPP Book Club selection

Very excited about the next book we're reading for the BPP Book Club, Anya Ulinich's Petropolis. She's an amazing writer. Also, this enables me to think in Russian a bit, something I don't get to do enough these days. Amazing how much I remember after all these years.

A day in the country

Yesterday we went to Harriman State Park. After a swim at a crowded beach, and much grumbling, Nathaniel consented to go on a trail walk. Within five minutes we were far from the crowds. A few minutes later, after scrambling up some beautiful boulders, we came out at the top of a ridge and saw this view. A good day.

Happy Birthday, Brooklyn Bridge

Having a kid who is happy most of the time is probably the best thing that ever happened to me.

Farewell to a great lady

Aunt Helen
Originally uploaded by sgoodyear

My Great-Aunt Helen died yesterday. She was one of the funniest, most vital people I've ever known.

In this picture (taken at my father's 65th birthday party a year and a half ago) you can see how she sparkled.

Rest in peace, Aunt Helen.

Two posts in one day?

Peter Miller of Freebird has written a very nice blog post about the reading...it includes a podcast link.

Thanks, Peter!

This says it all

What better way to update my extremely moribund blog than with this all-too-accurate portrayal of the modern author. Thanks to Peter at Freebird Books and Goods for cluing me into this at the reading I gave there last night...which, of course, I didn't post about here or even on Facebook.

Hey, I did tweet it, though.

So I'm Running a Book Club

Very excited about my newest project--moderating a book club for NPR's Bryant Park Project (yes, that's the show Laura works for). Our first selection is a wonderful book by Hisham Matar called In the Country of Men. Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2006, it tells the story of a nine-year-old boy coming of age under the Qaddafi regime in Libya in the late 1970s. We'll be doing some online discussion that will culminate, a little over a month from now, in an on-air talk with the author.

This is going to be cool because we're going to be trying new things as we go along. It's really going to be what the readers and listeners make of it, a very participatory multimedia project. I'm thrilled to be involved.

To find out more, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/book_club/.